please read and react:
> President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W.
> David Hager to head up the Food and Drug
> Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs
> Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more
> than two years, during which time its charter has
> lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked
> with filling all eleven positions with new members.
> This position does not require Congressional approval.
> The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee
> makes crucial decisions on matters relating to drugs
> used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and
> related specialties, including hormone therapy,
> contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical
> alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization
> and pregnancy termination.
>
> Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far
> outside the mainstream and a setback for reproductive
> technology.
>
> 1. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes
> himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe
> contraceptives to unmarried women.
> 2. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women:
> Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends
> biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case
> studies from Hager's practice.
> - Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and
> the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer
> from premenstrual syndrome should seek help from
> reading the bible and praying.
> 3. As an editor and contributing author of "The
> Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of
> Sexuality, Reproductive Technologies and the Family,"
> Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically
> inaccurate assertion that the common birth control
> pill is an abortifacient.
>
> 4. He has an ardent interest in revoking approval for
> mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and
> early form of medical abortion.
>
> - Hagar recently assisted the Christian Medical
> Association in a "citizen's petition" which calls upon
> the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone in the
> name of women's health.
>
> - Hager's desire to overturn mifepristone's approval
> on religious grounds rather than scientific merit
> would halt the development of mifepristone as a
> treatment for numerous medical conditions
> disproportionately affecting women, including breast
> cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid tumors,
> psychotic depression, bipolar depression and Cushing's
> syndrome.
>
> Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe
> and effective drugs for reproductive health care
> including products that prevent pregnancy.
>
> We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious
> beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that
> are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve
> and promote women's health.
>
> Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to
> guide his medical decision-making makes him a
> dangerous and inappropriate candidate to serve as
> chair of this committee.
>
> Critical drug public policy and research must not be
> held hostage by antiabortion politics.
>
> Members of this important panel should be appointed on
> the basis of science and medicine, rather than
> politics and religion.
>
> American women deserve no less.
>
> WHAT CAN YOU DO?
>
> 1. SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT
> WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
>
> 2. OPPOSE THE PLACEMENT OF THIS MAN BY CONTACTING THE
> WHITE HOUSE AND TELL THEM HE IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE
> ON ANY LEVEL.
>
> Please email President Bush at
> president@whitehouse.gov
>
> OR call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or (202)
> 456-1414 and say:
>
> "I oppose the appointment of Dr. Hager to the FDA
> Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Mixing
> religion and medicine is unacceptable. Using the FDA
> to promote a political agenda is inappropriate and
> Seriously threatens all women's health."
> President Bush has announced his plan to select Dr. W.
> David Hager to head up the Food and Drug
> Administration's (FDA) Reproductive Health Drugs
> Advisory Committee. The committee has not met for more
> than two years, during which time its charter has
> lapsed. As a result, the Bush Administration is tasked
> with filling all eleven positions with new members.
> This position does not require Congressional approval.
> The FDA's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee
> makes crucial decisions on matters relating to drugs
> used in the practice of obstetrics, gynecology and
> related specialties, including hormone therapy,
> contraception, treatment for infertility, and medical
> alternatives to surgical procedures for sterilization
> and pregnancy termination.
>
> Dr. Hager's views of reproductive health care are far
> outside the mainstream and a setback for reproductive
> technology.
>
> 1. Dr. Hager is a practicing OB/GYN who describes
> himself as "pro-life" and refuses to prescribe
> contraceptives to unmarried women.
> 2. Hager is the author of "As Jesus Cared for Women:
> Restoring Women Then and Now." The book blends
> biblical accounts of Christ healing women with case
> studies from Hager's practice.
> - Dr. Hager wrote with his wife, entitled "Stress and
> the Woman's Body," he suggests that women who suffer
> from premenstrual syndrome should seek help from
> reading the bible and praying.
> 3. As an editor and contributing author of "The
> Reproduction Revolution: A Christian Appraisal of
> Sexuality, Reproductive Technologies and the Family,"
> Dr. Hager appears to have endorsed the medically
> inaccurate assertion that the common birth control
> pill is an abortifacient.
>
> 4. He has an ardent interest in revoking approval for
> mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486) as a safe and
> early form of medical abortion.
>
> - Hagar recently assisted the Christian Medical
> Association in a "citizen's petition" which calls upon
> the FDA to revoke its approval of mifepristone in the
> name of women's health.
>
> - Hager's desire to overturn mifepristone's approval
> on religious grounds rather than scientific merit
> would halt the development of mifepristone as a
> treatment for numerous medical conditions
> disproportionately affecting women, including breast
> cancer, uterine cancer, uterine fibroid tumors,
> psychotic depression, bipolar depression and Cushing's
> syndrome.
>
> Women rely on the FDA to ensure their access to safe
> and effective drugs for reproductive health care
> including products that prevent pregnancy.
>
> We are concerned that Dr. Hager's strong religious
> beliefs may color his assessment of technologies that
> are necessary to protect women's lives or to preserve
> and promote women's health.
>
> Hager's track record of using religious beliefs to
> guide his medical decision-making makes him a
> dangerous and inappropriate candidate to serve as
> chair of this committee.
>
> Critical drug public policy and research must not be
> held hostage by antiabortion politics.
>
> Members of this important panel should be appointed on
> the basis of science and medicine, rather than
> politics and religion.
>
> American women deserve no less.
>
> WHAT CAN YOU DO?
>
> 1. SEND THIS TO EVERY PERSON WHO IS CONCERNED ABOUT
> WOMEN'S RIGHTS.
>
> 2. OPPOSE THE PLACEMENT OF THIS MAN BY CONTACTING THE
> WHITE HOUSE AND TELL THEM HE IS TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE
> ON ANY LEVEL.
>
> Please email President Bush at
> president@whitehouse.gov
>
> OR call the White House at (202) 456-1111 or (202)
> 456-1414 and say:
>
> "I oppose the appointment of Dr. Hager to the FDA
> Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee. Mixing
> religion and medicine is unacceptable. Using the FDA
> to promote a political agenda is inappropriate and
> Seriously threatens all women's health."
